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October 2018

Good-Hearted: Myles Young, of the University of Newcastle, will run a project on reducing the risk of heart disease. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers Exercise would be the most widely prescribed medication on earth if it could be condensed into a pill, University of Newcastle researcher Myles Young says.

The benefits of exercise are paramount in Dr Young’s new program to tackle a trio of serious health problems in men.

“Obesity and depression are two of the largest contributors to heart disease in men,” Dr Young said.

THURSDAY, December 28, 2017, marks the 28thanniversary of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake, an event that will stayforever in the minds of those who lived through it.

It is a day seared into the brain of every person who found themselves that morning in the city centre, or in Hamilton, or the various other hot-spots of shaking and damage that radiated across the region.

Despite its importance to those who were there, the relentless march of time means that a generation of adult Novocastrians will go about their business this anniversary with no direct experienceof one of the most extraordinary periods of our history.

For them, and for children and teenagers today, the 1989 earthquake is a matter of history, something to be experienced through story, or film footage, the written word or photographs, rather than something that was felt through a dawning realisation that the world was shaking, and that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

If there was one extraordinary aspect of that earthquake, it was that so much damage was wrought across such a broad area, with only 13 deaths and 160 or so taken to hospital.Coming three days after Christmas, it meant the city had far fewer workers than would normally be the case. People were out of the areaon holidays. The evening of the 28th, rock band Split Enz had been scheduled to play in the main auditorium of the workers club, which collapsed, its roof hitting the floor, in the shaking. As bad as it was in the end, things could have beenmuch worse.

As is often the way in times of adversity, the earthquake became a salve for our community –a community that pulled together when things were at their worst. In this era of hi-visibility vests and endless workplace safety protocols, it is worth remembering that much of the work on quake day was done by volunteerstoiling alongside the official rescue services.

Everyone who could, pitched in.

It took literally years for the scars of the damage to be erased from the streetscape, and history shows it was the flood of insurance money that poured into the city –reckoned at the time to be more than $1 billion –that began the rejuvenation of the inner city and its surrounding suburbs.

Todaywe live in a very different-looking Newcastle, with stronger building codes. Even so, we arestill a city susceptible to the unpredictable tectonicforces of nature.

And now Tobin is on a mission to expand our knowledge beyond that rudimentary vocabulary, breathing fresh life into the ancient Darug language.

Along with Joel Davison, a Gadigal and Dunghutti man, she is gearing up for a second year teaching Darug at a Sydney Festival program called Bayala, after the Darug word for “speak”. The program includes classes, an exhibition of historical records and a singing ceremony.

“I believe our ancestors are walking with us and trying to bring the language out of our mouths,” Tobin says.

Last year, Bayala was a huge hit with festival-goers, with spots selling out within the first week. This year, the number of beginner places has been doubled and organisers have added a more advanced course focusing on grammar and language structure. Both will be run in Parramatta as well as in the CBD.

The enthusiastic students covered a broad range of ages and ethnic backgrounds and even included an Irish professor who was interested in how Australia’s language revitalisation efforts compared to those of Ireland.

Tobin and Davison have reconstructed the sounds of the language from written historical material.

“We don’t have native speakers any more who have learnt it since childhood, that we can just grab and say, hey, teach these classes,” Davison explains.

Language revival and reclamation has generated a host of startlingly diverse benefits for Indigenous communities.

“There have been studies that have shown that when you give an ethnic minority that have lost their language their language back, it results in a lot of health improvements and resolves a lot of issues they have with cultural and personal identity,” Davison says.

Ahmar Mahboob, an associate professor of linguistics at the University of Sydney, agrees.

There have been similar findings from indigenous communities around the world.

Researchers in Canada, where suicide rates in First Nations communities are up to 11 times the national average, found rates of language competence could be used to predict the suicide rate of a community more accurately than many other cultural factors.

In communities where most members could speak their language at a conversational level, the suicide rate dropped almost to zero – below the national average.

Closer to home, at the University of Adelaide, linguists and medical researchers are investigating how language revival in the Barngarla community correlates with incarceration rates, school performance and even the prevalence of diabetes.

Mahboob and Professor Jakelin Troy, Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at the University of Sydney, are planning ambitious research with indigenous communities from Asia, Europe, South America and Australia to explore the relationship between health and wellbeing and indigenous language use.

While Mahboob calls the Bayala programs “a fantastic initiative”, he also stresses the need for an expanded approach to language revival that emphasises practical, real-life applications, “such as through mother tongue-based multilingual education and integrating Indigenous languages into the linguistic landscape of the communities”.

Tobin and Davison, who also work with schools throughout the year, have noticed that teachers themselves are among the keenest to learn.

“The thing that I’m most proud of is that consistently in our classes there were educators, and they ranged from preschool educators, to K-6, to high school and university educators,” Davison says.

“Most everyone that has come [to the classes] sends the message to me that it gives them something to be proud of beyond 200 years of white Australian history,” he says. “In our eyes, 200 years is a very short period of time.”

The Bayala language courses will take place on January 10-12 and 23-25 in the CBD, and January 17-19 in Parramatta, while free one-hour language classes will be held on January 6, 13 and 20 in the CBD, and January 14 in Parramatta.

This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.Read More →

History was created in Adelaide a few weeks back with the first day-night Ashes Test (for men) but we’re unlikely to see one played under lights in the 2019 series.

Despite the concept’s success in Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board is keen to stick with tradition when it comes to cricket’s oldest rivalry.

It is a surprising stance given the success of the maiden day/night Test held on English soil, against the West Indies, this year. Despite finishing in three days, host club Warwickshire, which exceeded its commercial targets, gave the game a resounding thumbs up.

The 2019 series will start later than usual due to the World Cup, also held in England, not finishing until July 15.

While the ECB is keen to continue floodlit Tests, they may deem the pulling power of the Ashes sufficient to draw a decent crowd.

“It’s to be decided but it’s unlikely to be honest,” ECB chief Tom Harrison said on ABC Grandstand. “We’ve got a formula which works brilliantly well for us in Ashes cricket in the UK. Right time, right place, right conditions are the rules for day/night Test cricket. We’ll wait and see but unlikely, I would say.”

Boxing Day Test reunion for Marsh, Curran

Tom Curran joked that the only way to make up for missing out on David Warner as his first wicket would be to get Steve Smith instead.

That he did, though it would also have been fitting had his maiden Test scalp been Mitchell Marsh.

The pair have history, of the good kind, we must add. It dates back to Geoff Marsh’s time as coach of Zimbabwe from 2001-04, and Kevin Curran his assistant.

When the Currans were kicked off their family farm by Robert Mugabe, they were taken in by Marsh, who was living in a house in Harare belonging to the Zimbabwe cricket board. Mitchell was also there at the time and became good friends with Tom and his younger brother Sam, who is also a player of promise.

The trio will be reunited next year after Marsh signed a contract to play at Surrey for 2018.??? Lovely news this morning that @mitchmarsh235 is coming to @surreycricket next year, great memories of us all growing up [email protected]_TC59pic.twitter南京夜网/NSZ4Ru0nw2??? Sam Curran (@CurranSM) October 20, 2017 Photo: Reuters

The Tonk is hoping Bouchard sees the ball better at Melbourne Park next month.

This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.Read More →

The Eaglehawk CFA captain suspended after a female teenage volunteer was allegedly manhandled has resigned from the firefighting organisation.

Hayden Allen, who was one of four men suspended earlier this monthwhile an investigation into the November 25 incident took place, quit the organisation last week.

It is understood Mr Allen resigned because of concerns he had about the way CFA management handled the investigation.

News of the investigation and the men’s suspension was revealed by the CFA on December 6.

Hayden Allen

CCTV footage from inside the Eaglehawk station showed the men pulling the hair of the 17-year-old girl, pushing her to the ground, feigning to kick her and rolling her under a truck to wet her with the its sprinkler system.

Several other bystanders watched the incident take place but did not intervene.

It is believed none of the other three suspended volunteers have quit the CFA at this time.

First LieutenantDuncan Murley will now take on the role of captain.

Police who investigated the incident laid no charges, saying the young woman did not want to pursue the matter.

Still, CFAchief officer Steve Warrington said the behaviour of those who made contact with the girl, as well as those who watched on, was unacceptable.

“People, this stuff belongs in the past, full stop,” he said in a video message earlier this month.

“We can’t tolerate this behaviour in CFA anymore.”

A CFA spokesman today said the investigation was still underway and that it would be inappropriate to comment at this time.

Mr Allen was also contacted but declined to comment.

The allegations against the suspended men renewed calls from political leaders for the release of aVictorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report on theculture of the state’s fire services.

Previously subject to a court challenge from the United Firefighters’ Union, the report is now set for release next month after VHREOC was deemed to have both the power and appropriate methodology to studyequity and diversity in the CFA and MFB.

“[The]decision means that the stories, experiences and insights from men and women across the CFA and MFB will be heard, and will help set the agencies on a meaningful path of cultural reform,” commissioner Kristen Hilton said after the court handed down its decision.